


The piece of our heart

by GirlWolfTattoo



Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Assassination, Blood and Violence, Character Death, Goat Lucio (The Arcana), Heavy Angst, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Mind Control, Muriel Route (The Arcana), Other, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-08
Updated: 2020-01-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:48:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22170541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GirlWolfTattoo/pseuds/GirlWolfTattoo
Summary: "Doesn't matter how many times you lie to yourself, you're not a man, you're a beast!". Muriel's route inspired, which means our soft mountain man is the main character, but also means Lucio is at his worse.
Relationships: Apprentice/Asra (The Arcana), Apprentice/Julian Devorak, Apprentice/Muriel (The Arcana)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 21





	The piece of our heart

“Enough! Enough…” someone clapped twice, the hollow sound of flesh against metal crunching through the arena. He didn’t want to lift his eyes, fixed on the trembling, bleeding figure at his feet, but the slow roar of the people was a warning of the next step he was forced to take, but just stood there, not looking up; he wanted a little moment more to not being responsible of his duty, a little moment to remember he was a human.  
The rabid roar became a wave of cheer, and now he needed to lift his face and stare at the private box, lagged with a heavy, red tapestry, where an older man with blond hair and a golden arm was lifting his right hand towards him. His thumb was pointing down, his sharp, cold eyes fixed on him with the silent command printed in his pupils. Finish him.  
The man at his feet was injured pretty bad, but could survive if someone gave him the chance. The figure crawled on the sand, his hands wrapped together, his dagger (oh, how cruelty, who could even think that poor bastard could defend himself with that ridiculous weapon?) left next to his hand, and he knew that man was going to plead for mercy. But, what kind of mercy could exist in that coliseum? Because he knew mercy wasn’t the language of the Count, mercy was just a foreign word some people would ask for a certain creature, but not in that place, not where every citizen lived, cried and begged for blood.  
“Just do it!”  
“C’mon, Scourge, aren’t you going to entertain us?”  
“Crush his skull!”  
Never, in those years of living like a gladiator, or more like an histrionic executer, dared to disobey the Count’s commands, and this time wasn’t going to be the first. Holding the axe with both hands, lifted it over his head and, with the help of experience and intuition, he closed his eyes, his mind desperately mumbling to himself “I’m a human, I’m a human”, and with a final blow the axe fell on the other man’s head. There was no scream, not a single sound but the cheering and clapping of the audience.   
With that hit, he knew he was free again, free until Lucio found another victim to slash and torture in front of his subjects, another way to transform him in a beast and make him destroy another life with his hands, until Muriel himself had another long night to ask hif he, in fact, was still a human.  
Three years ago that voice was silenced, replaced by the soft whisper of the wind lifting the leafs, the ripple of the animal’s feet as they crossed the forest, the chirp of the chickens at morning, before he visited their shed to collect eggs; it was a little paradise, in which he could being alone, casting his demons away and living every day with the goal of do as much as he could to atone his sins. He would never lift an axe for other thing except to chop wood, he would never use his fists except to knock the trees to test if some tiny creature was living in it, he would never take another life except for survival. His hands will never be soaked in blood again, much less if that blood was spilled by him.  
And then he found out how innocent, how naïve he was, thinking he would have the touch of leave him alone, because even in his strange death he was still haunting and hunting him, and he probably would do it until Muriel was dead too.  
But this time things were going to be different, this time Lucio hasn’t any power over him or his actions, this time he won’t be facing the Count alone, he had people ready to help him, to fight by his side, to protect him… well, it was one person, so tiny and yet so brave, prepared in her body and soul to fight for him, to die for him..  
“So she shall…” a vicious, horrible voice muttered in his head before a red, thick mist surrounded him, and a heavy silence drowned him as his body moved through what seemed like an endless darkness. Nothing came into that abnormal solitude, except some muffled noises he couldn’t identify, followed by a painless hit, and another, until he felt a little shaking and tired.  
His heart was pounding in his ears like a war drum, his breathing was loud and fast, but his brain was unable to get what was happening, and he thought it was the weirdest nightmare he’d ever have. And then, the red mist appeared once again and that hateful voice yelled, with more excitement than never before:  
“Enough! Enough… Oh, my dear, look at this mess, you’re truly a world wonder, my dear Scourge! Now, take a look at your magnificent piece of art…”  
The mist disappeared, and Muriel was in control of himself again. The first thing he noticed besides the disturbed state of his body, was the sweating running like a waterfall for his neck and chest, the second thing was that he was half naked, wearing nothing but a pair of trousers and, such weird thing, a piece of red fabric by way of loincloth.   
The third thing he noticed was the blood.   
Blood was everywhere, on his hands (his knuckles had the unmistakable sign of given blows), staining his chest, printed along his arms, on his face (he lifted a finger and touched them, noticing the mark of teeth on his lower lip)… It seemed like he had an awful accident, but Muriel didn’t feel injured, some places pulsated with a dull pain, but otherwise he wasn’t feeling bad.  
But if that blood wasn’t his, where does it came from…?  
Muriel gave a look at one of the prints on his arm, the stain was small but clear enough to draw a silhouette. His heart jumped, the stain had the shape and length of a human hand.   
His eyes traveled from his stained bicep to the floor. It was dark, some moon rays were the only source of light, and in that moment one of them illuminated something at his feet; he thought it looked like a thick branch, but as soon as his eyes used to the pale light he recognized the form. An arm, also stained in blood but, unlike Muriel, this had signs of violence, huge bruises crossing the wrist and a slightly irregular bulge behind the skin, announcing one bone was broken.   
Muriel heard a rush inside his brain, and anxiety took control over his body; he didn’t want to see more, but found himself kneeling and stretching one arm to touch the damaged surface of the other one, dropped on the floor. It was still warm, and a powerful thought invaded his mind, “you can still help them, you can still save their life!”  
A metallic sound made Muriel turned his head. Protected by the shadows, a human goat stepped towards him, the most cruel, sadistic smile printed in his mouth, Count Lucio in his new, monstrous body staring at the scene.  
“Well done, Scourge, just like always. I must admit this carnage went a little far of what I meant to, but I enjoyed every second of it.”  
“No…” Muriel’s voice was hoarse and desperate “I didn’t do this… I’m not that man anymore…”  
“A man?” Lucio laughed hard, or it was more like a human laugh mixed with goat screech, and that sound gave Muriel goosebumps. “Of course not! You keep lying to yourself, lying to others and pretending you’re a man but I know what you are, Scourge, you’re nothing but a blood thirsty beast… Take a look of what you’ve done!”  
A spark of light, like a flame without a torch, appeared above their heads, and finally Muriel could see the rest of the injured arm. In that moment, it was like the world has stopped its moving, there was no sound or color, except the red of the blood bathing the floor and the body that was lying at his feet, less than a meter away from him.  
Renata was resting over so much blood it seemed unreal, countless wounds covered her skin in so many places it was barely an inch of clean flesh, her clothes were just a set of tattered, colorful fabric hanging from the stronger parts, one of her feet had miss the ankle boot she used to wear and was swollen from the ankle to the toes, like it was crushed very hard. Bruises extended from her arms to her neck and face, scratches so deep the skin was broken…   
It was just a few seconds, but for Muriel it was almost hours before he took Renata into his arms. She was fainted, he thought, forcing himself to ignore the guilty stains on his own body, she just had an accident, or maybe it was all Lucio’s handiwork, and all she needed was some rest and wake up… wake up…   
“Re…Renata…” Muriel whispered into her ear after removing a lock of hair from it. “Renata, p –please…”  
“You really amaze me!” Lucio mocked. “Do you think she’s actually to stand up after all of this? Oh, poor stupid Scourge!”   
“What have you done to her?” Muriel asked, his voice was covered in the most fierce, dark hate he had ever felt, and his eyes traveled to the goat face of the Count. Lucio noticed it, but didn’t stepped back.  
“I didn’t put a single hoof on her, I can swear” he replied, offended but still amused “No, this piece of art is just up to you, dear Scourge, thought it was me the one who pulsed the correct strings to make this possible, that’s also true.”  
Suddenly, Muriel’s mind started to work fast, the red mist and the darkness he experienced before going crystal clear, letting him submerge in the recent memories he wasn’t able to get consciously; Renata’s face yelling at him, confusion printed in her features, the sound of something hitting the floor multiple times, some bones crushing into his hands, Renata yelling and begging in pure fear and pain, her body attached to him, strengthless as he was doing something with her, something so vile and horrible he didn’t took credit to his mind, but deep inside, in his guts, he knew those images were real too.  
“No…” his hands trembled as he tried to caress Renata, but he suddenly felt unclean, impure, and all his body shook as he managed to avoid his friend’s body to hit the floor. “It cannot be… NO! PLEASE, NO!”  
“Oh, but you did. I’ve never saw you so… savage.” Lucio bragged as Muriel’s tears started to run through his cheeks. “This was your best performance, it had everything! The surprise, the fight back, the lust… I’m a little sorry of how she ended up, now her body is useless to me, so I can give it to you, consider it as a prize for the amazing entertainment you gave to me tonight, shall you?”  
“SHUT UP!” the larger man screamed, feeling like his throat was about to break. “MONSTER, YOU’RE A MONSTER!”  
Lucio’s figure was devoured by darkness, and the last thing heard from him was:  
“No, Scourge, you are the monster”.  
…  
Thick raindrops hit the window, pealing like a tiny rock on the crystal. Inside the warm, cozy home, Asra was comfortably stretched over the pillows, looking lazily to a heap of old clothing he was supposed to discharge, but that just became part of the furniture after the rain started to fall. Not very far from him, doctor Devorak was reading an old book, giving his partner some laconic grimaces every often.  
“It’s getting late” Asra said. “And this rain looks like it’s not going to stop very soon.”  
“What, scared of some water, my dear Asra?” Julian asked in a jesting voice. The magician snorted and grinned.  
“Not even a little, Ilya, but it seems I’m stuck here with you until rain lessen or… until the day has passed, whatever happens first.”  
“What do you mean?”  
“Well, I don’t think it would be a good idea having you running from the shop to Mazelinka’s house, soaked like a fish and messing up your boots, am I right?” Asra lifted an eyebrow to Julian, who didn’t do nothing but feel a soft blush appearing on his cheeks.  
“Yes, I mean… yes, Mazelinka wouldn’t like me to catch a cold or something and…” Julian cleared his throat. “So, when is going Renata to join us? Do you think this rain may delay her?”  
“Yes, I would be more worried if it wasn’t for Muriel. They’re together, you know?”  
“Together?” Julian struggled to keep a straight face, but his eye went wide open in surprise. “You mean, together like you and me or…? No, I mean, together like us in this exact moment?”  
Asra choose to ignore what he was aware now. Yes, he loved her once, a long time ago, but things have changed since then, and thought it was hard for him to see Renata grow up without Asra being his center, he still loved her enough to vanish the jealousy and fear of her loss.  
“I don’t know… Well, for the purposes of your question, yes, they’re together in this exact moment, so even if the rain becomes worse, you can bet they will be at Muriel’s place. They’ll be fine.”  
“Oh, good to know!... The fact that they’re safe, I mean.”  
But then a few hits coming from the door cut the two men’s conversation. Asra and Julian stared at each other, the same disorientation printed in their features, who could dare to cross the storm and knock at the door with such haste?  
“Do you want me to…?”   
“No, Ilya, thanks, I’ll answer.” Asra stood up and, before leaving the room, slided Faust out of his sleeve and put her close to the fireplace, and Julian. The doctor gave a concerned look to the snake but didn’t said a word as the magician walked down the stairs and reached the door.  
The white haired man lifted one hand to open, but his heart made a painful jump at the exact moment his fingertips bushed the surface. A sudden feel of despair and panic invaded him, making his fingers retract for some seconds as he thought, almost from nowhere, that he didn’t want to open the door. But the knocking came again and, struggling with his life, Asra pulled the handle.  
The hulking figure of his best friend was staring at him, completely soaked and uncovered.   
“Muriel! What…? Why are you…?”  
“As…ra…” the man was trembling, and Asra thought it was because Muriel was half naked and walking down the rain, but his intuition claimed it wasn’t right. Something wasn’t right. “I… I did…”  
Then, the magician noticed the bulge wrapped by the man’s arms, his fur coat covering something else.  
“Muriel… what is this?” he asked, fixing his eyes on the figure. It was more than Muriel could handle, and his voice went broken as he extended his arms, like offering his burden to Asra.  
“I… never meant to… but…”  
Feeling himself trembling too, Asra reunited all of his brave to extend one hand and lift a little of the coat. That single look was enough, nobody but him could recognize that tiny hand with such ease… but just as Muriel, he felt like the world has stopped as his mind drew the answer much before he asked, and his eyes went from the hand to Muriel’s face, an immense, unbearable sorrow drowning every trail of any other feelings.  
“What is this?” he murmured. His mind was still in shock, unable to believe it was real. It must be a joke, a pretty dark and disgusting joke, and oh gods how much he wanted it to be just a joke.  
“Asra… is she…”  
The magician’s hands uncovered the body, and then he stood at Renata, hanging lifeless into Muriel’s arms. All the nightmares, all the intrusive images which assaulted Asra three years ago came back to his mind, his biggest fear took form in that black fur coat, and he act like an automaton when he took her in his own arms, the blood almost dried but the wounds very visible.  
“Renata…” he stuttered as he kneeled down and put his apprentice’s body on the floor carefully. “Renata… please… Please no… don’t be…”   
Asra moved Renata from the shoulders softly, horrified by the huge bruises on them, and as the seconds passed the reality hit him more and more, until he noticed how his eyes became a little misty, and something wet and warm fell to his cheeks.   
“Asra…” Muriel spoke at last, still very disturbed. His friend lifted his head, interrupting his silent suffering.  
“Who did this?” the younger man muttered “Muriel, tell me… who?”  
Despite the horror of the true, he didn’t feel the nerve to excuse himself.  
“Me, Asra. It was me.”  
“What?” Asra’s eyes squinted.   
“It was me!” Muriel repeated, extending his hands so Asra could see the traces of violence on them. “I killed her, I did it!”   
Asra didn’t seem to be in his senses, his eyes traveling from Muriel’s hands to his face, like he was unable to understand his words. Finally he stood up and said, in the most devastated voice his friend had heard before:  
“No.”  
“Yes, I did it… I did it!” the taller man started to shake again. “It happened so suddenly I couldn’t… It was Lucio, he… he did something and my mind went blank…”  
“Lucio?” Asra’s pain suddenly transformed into pure rage, and went straight to Muriel pressing his fists. The taller man thought he was going to hit him, but instead the magician crossed the still open door and walked into the rain.   
“Asra!” despite he was very sure his friend will never forget him, and he didn’t want to search for his forgiveness, Muriel went after him. “Asra, wait!”  
“I’m going to kill him!” the magician yelled against the stormy wind. “I will kill him, I swear!”  
“No!” Muriel extended his arms and grabbed Asra with the last remains of his strength. “You can’t win to him! He’ll destroy you first!”  
“I’ll kill that bastard!” Asra claimed, struggling to get free from Muriel.  
“You can’t do it!”  
“Let me go! He has killed her twice now!”  
“Asra, please…!”  
Asra fell onto his knees, almost dragging Muriel with him, yelling and sobbing at the same time.  
“That bastard…! That unholy bastard…!”   
“We cannot win to him… But you can avenge her death yet.”  
“H… how?”Asra lifted his head to stare at his friend. And the words he said were like a stone falling right onto his wounded heart:  
“Kill me. I won’t defend myself, I won’t protect myself, but please… Please, could you… take care of Innana? She… she’s innocent, she has never done anything to anyone…”  
Asra shook his head in utterly horror.  
“How can you tell me that? How could I…?”  
“Because I did it”.  
“No, Lucio did it, he used you to do… this monstrosity…”  
“You have no idea of what I did… I remember it, I can see it clear in my mind, every second of it, every move, every sound…” Muriel shook like an ill when the memories paraded back in his head. “My hands are stained on her blood… I failed you, I promised she… she would be safe, but now…”  
“Please, stop” Asra stuttered “Don’t way anymore, please…”  
“I swore I would never do this again, and now look at me! Asra, I beg you…”  
“Why?” the other man exploded “I’ve lost the most important being in my life again, why are you asking me to lost my friend too?!”  
“I’m not your friend! I’m not even human, I’m a beast!”  
“No, you’re not! You are Muriel! Muriel, do you remember it? You are the same boy I met and who lived with me at the docks!” Asra yelled angrily, holding Muriel from his wrists and his eyes bright like fire. Muriel couldn’t resist anymore, listening to Asra not blaming him for Renata’s death, calling him not just human but his friend… it was like a lonely grain of hope in that black sea of suffering.  
And in that moment the most horrifying scream broke the atmosphere and both stared at the open door of the shop. The scream came from there.  
Some seconds later, Asra and Muriel walked into the piercing scene: Julian had left the second floor, probably because Asra didn’t come back after the door knocking, and now the doctor was holding Renata against his chest and crying like a damned soul.  
“Julian…” Asra said in a half voice. Muriel stood behind him, he disliked the doctor with all his heart but seeing him on the floor, hugging Renata like she was the most precious thing in the world and his soul completely broken, he felt for the very first time a wave of sympathy for him.  
The red haired man lifted his face. He was out of himself, the grief printed in every trace of his face as huge tears fell from his eye and under his patch without control.  
“Why?!” he yelled. “Why?!”  
Asra shook his head, his lips moving without any sound, unable to say anything. Muriel lowered his head, feeling how his eyes were aching as Julian, his voice so injured it seemed like the reflex of his soul, shouted to the nothing:  
“Why her?! Why?! Don’t leave me, please, Renata, stay with me…”  
“Stay with me…” Asra whispered, tired and soulless.  
Muriel stared at his hands, almost all the blood was gone but the traces of it were still visible on his palms and nails. Renata’s face appeared like a light in the labyrinth of his thoughts, not like she looked now but like she was a couple of days ago, when they were sharing the calm of the afternoon in the forest. Muriel remembered how, in a certain moment, he stood up to get into the hut, and then he felt the touch of a small, warm hand, Renata’s, and remember her face smiling in a soft beg as she told him:  
“Stay with me, Muriel”.  
The rain keep falling, hiding in its noise the sorrow of three men who surrounded the small, precious body of the creature they loved the most in this world.

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted so hard to make some angst for Muriel, he's the softest creature in all Vesuvia and deserves nothing but love and care... but it also means he's a good target for heartbreaking stories.


End file.
